April 29, 2013

Zva Creative and my fellow Design Team members welcome you to our April blog hop! We are excited about month's hop and look forward to sharing our new work with you!

Today's Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's facebook page! Be sure head on over to check it out! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals. If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path. I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way! The Blog Hop starts today, April 29th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, April 30th.

***Prizes***

Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 1st on Zva Creative's facebook page. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! To increase your chances of winning:
* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.
*Hop over to Zva's facebook page and "like" our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by if you already like follow us there!

April 25, 2013

Hello scrappers! Welcome to the Glitz Design blog hop and thank you for joining us. I hope that you are inspired as much as I am with the projects that we have created using the "Love you madly" collection. I especially love the pastel colors in this collection and I love the heart washi tape!

Don't forget to leave a comment on each of the designers blogs for a chance to win your very own "Love you madly" prize package! The winner will be announced by Sunday night!

Here is the list of designers and blogs in case you get lost along the way.

April 19, 2013

Hi everyone. Today I have a fun multi-photo layout to share with you. Since this month’s SFTIO emotion is called “fortune” I wanted to scrap a layout of things that I am fortunate for. I had an idea of the photos that I wanted to use, but I had no idea about a design or how I would include my journaling so I simply started flipping through a magazine. There is so much inspiration in magazines… whether it’s the design of the ad, the colors, or the font/journaling prompts they are all there in bold print. The next time you are experiencing scrappers block, try looking through a magazine for inspiration.

Here is the magazine ad that caught my eye. I really like how the photos are tinted like the ones you would find on Instagram. Also, if you are looking for a program to help you print your photos like the ones displayed on this ad, you can do it through a free photo program called iPiccy. Check out www.ipiccy.com I promise you, you won’t regret it.

I used a ruler to help line up my title in a straight line at the top. This is the only way I can do it… otherwise my title will come out crooked. Also, another tip, I do not adhere anything until I know exactly where everything is gonna go. Here are some photos so that you can see how I scrap. I start with the papers. First, I layer them on the base. After my papers are adhered, I print my photos and move them around the page until I’m happy with a placement. Then I move embellishments around. Once I am happy with everything, I stick everything down.

Once everything is adhered, I look for a place to include my journaling. I always wait until everything is adhered before doing this because sometimes, I am constantly changing my mind about the design of my layout… I’m a fussy scrapper; everything needs to look perfect (to me). My friends are always telling me that I should have been a doctor because my handwriting sucks, but I love using my own handwriting on my layouts, even if it looks messy because it shows so much… And it looks true and real. Does that make sense? I hope so.

And here’s my final project after everything is said and done. Even though I fussed over this layout, it looks simple… Just so you know, simple doesn’t always mean faster. I sometimes spend an hour on my layouts and it doesn’t even look like it.

April 13, 2013

Hello scrappers! Today I would like to share with you a variety of ways in which you can use the washi border stickers that came in the April “Fortune” kit by Scrapbooking from the inside out. I have to be honest here, I love washi tape! It’s so versatile and easy to use. Whenever I feel like I am missing something on my layout, I will pull out my washi tape and use it to enhance the look of my layout.

When I first started using washi tape, I’d use it as a border strips for my photos. I really couldn’t think outside the box on different ways to use it until I played around a bit. Once I started playing around with washi tape, ideas started running wild in my head! One day, I was running low on adhesives and though, “why not tape down the edges of my photos using washi tape! And so it began, the ideas started flowing.

Here are some ways to use washi tape:

1. Use the washi tape as a form of adhesives. Tape down the ends of your photos using washi tape, rather than using adhesives.
2. Cover the corners of your photos using washi tape for a fun photo corner, tucking the ends behind the photo.
3. Fold the washi tape in half and punch out shapes. Decorate the center of the punched washi tape with buttons, chipboard or jewels.
4. Use washi tape over layered paper strips to create a fun border.
5. You can also sew across the washi tape to make them stand out more. I really like the look of this.
6. Create a fun border strip around the edge of your layout.
7. Adhere a few strips of washi tape side by side and then use punches to create your very own die cuts.

Here are some close ups of these techniques used on my actual layouts. Can you see how much fun they can be? Come visit the gallery over at SFTIO to see the layouts in more detail!

I hope that I was able to inspire you today. And thanks for stopping by! Please come again for more ideas and fun.

April 12, 2013

Hello scrappers. Nicole here. Today I have a few layouts to share with you. Both layouts include stamping. Now, I know some of you might be scared to use stamps because you could easily make a mistake on your layout, but I'm here to show you how easy and less scary they can be!

For my first layout, I used the camera roller stamp on white cardstock and handcut the camera with scissors and adhered it to my layout with a foam square. That way I knew for sure that I wouldn't make a mistake on my layout. Also, when I stamped the number "3" on my layout the ink did not come through all the way. So while part of the stamp looked perfect, the other part looked less opaque. I took care of this issue by using a black marker to carefully filled in the white space. Love this idea because you can't tell the difference. Problem solved.

Here are some photos up close to see what I did with the number "3" to make it more opaque.

April 11, 2013

This past Sunday me and a few other ladies from work volunteered for the Credit Union 10 mile run in D.C. We had to be at the main branch by 5am. to catch the bus... None of us like waking up that early, but we did! There were about 15k runners! AMAZING. And we set up the gatorade table and managed to keep up! It was crazy. Here are a few pictures!

April 4, 2013

Happy Thursday everyone! Hope your week is going well. Today I have a fun sketch to share with you all. Feel free to use it to create something of your own. No need to credit me for the sketch! Here's my take on the sketch. I just love, love, love this layout so much! I've had this photo for over 3 years now and never had the right papers to scrap it until I received the Fortune kit by SFTIO!! Check out the kit here!

April 1, 2013

Hello friends! Have you seen the new “fortune” kit by Scrapbooking from the inside out? It’s a beauty and it’s chocked full of goodies by American Crafts, Crate Paper, Fancy Pants and much more. Whether you’re fortunate or not, this kit is full of new goodies from Winter Cha 2013. This is no April fools joke ya’ll. Get yours now while they are available! And if you’re still unsure about the beauty of this kit, please stop by to see what our designers created this month. Click here to see our gallery. There is a variety of styles and designs that may make you interested in our kit. And if you're looking for a new community to join, feel free to com chat with us in our forum. We are a friendly bunch and would love to have more company!